Mined Zone

IT'S EASIER TO RAISE CATTLE
LAGI SENANG JAGA SEKANDANG LEMBU

• Director: Amanda Nell Eu
• MALAYSIA / 2017 / DCP / Colour / 18’ / Malaysian; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Amanda Nell Eu
• Director of Photography: Mahen Bala
• Editing: Audrie Yeo
• Music: Armaan Khadar
• Cast: Sharifah Aryana Binti Syed Zainal Rashid, Sofia Sabri
• Producer: Gan Hui Yee
• Production Co.: Astro Shaw
• World Sales: Amanda Nell Eu

It’s Easier to Raise Cattle, Amanda Nell Eu’s tribute to the pontianak, the vengeful vampiric entity of Malaysian folklore (the most popular embodiment of horror genre in Malaysian cinema), tells the story of two young women’s uncanny friendship in a remote village. As one discovers the other’s dark secrets, she observes the changes in her new friend to the point of violence, monstrosity, and affection. Eu asks: ‘imagine if she was your best friend. Imagine the amount of pain and suffering she went through, the way she was treated, her anger and wrath, her beauty and fragility… How does SHE feel instead?’ It’s Easier to Raise Cattle shifts the pontianak’s generic location in visual culture from horror to a feminist allegory of coming-of-age. 'My film,' Eu says, 'is about the sexuality of young girls, their wild and raw side, and also their gentle and loving side. And those are things that people fear about women.'

This film will be screened together with Vinegar Baths and Ghost Like Us.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.